XP Reboot Loop

The situation isn't really clear from your post.
- A reboot loop seems something that happens continually: you turn it on, it boots, it gets to some point in the startup sequence (say the welcome screen or your desktop if it's set to autologin), it shuts down immediately, it reboots, etcetera.
- But 'it came back on Sunday' seems that it was turned off for three days and worked immediately when you turned it on.

So please tell more about what happens exactly if you turn the machine on. Also tell what happens if you press f8 at the right time to come into the Windows boot option menu. Just saying "the crap doesn't work" isn't very informative, while we need all information you can give to give the best possible opinion and advice.

It's doubtful if you can repair this without XP cd. Why don't you have one? And what alternatives do you have (system recovery disks, system recovery partition, use a friends CD)?

Of course, you won't lose any data as long the hard disk is still fine, because there are several ways to get all your data safely off it to an external hard disk (even safer: from that external disk to another PC, so you have 2 backup copies).
If, however, the hard disk is damaged you'll only use the data you didn't yet backup. For most people, that's a week of data at most. Some unlucky people didn't backup at all and lose all. But that's their own fault, of course, so nobody (except themselves maybe) minds.

Kees

You the "reboot upon error" status condition. It will do this until you reset it probably in bios. Alas, you seem to have power issues, thus you need once done get your hands on protection, to include UPS, line conditioner and surge.

As for your OS not able to boot, then you need to fix it. Since, you can't enter the repair console that's a problem. I suggest you get the live version of Ubuntu and see if it actually boots period. If done right from .ISO burnable file, it will make a bootable CD. Does it boot then? Next, find the Hiren's Boot CD, a collection of helpful files, maybe it can correct it. Also, it has to be able boot as well after burning it and allowed to boot from CD. Your bios MUST be set to boot from CD drive as 1st boot device. All of this can be done excluding a true h/we fault. Google for the .ISO files I mentioned above.

If you like, google a "XP repair disc", if lucky it maybe free. But, it's worth it to buy one and usually at low cost.

tada -----Willy